April 30
1903 — The New York Highlanders won their home opener at Hilltop Park, 6-2 over Washington.
1919 — Philadelphia’s Joe Oeschger and Brooklyn’s Burleigh Grimes pitched complete games in a 9-9, 20-inning tie. Both teams scored three runs in the 19th inning. Oeschger gave up 22 hits and walked five, while Grimes allowed 15 hits and walked five.
1922 — Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a 2-0 perfect game against the Detroit Tigers. Johnny Mostil, playing left field for the only time, made two outstanding catches.
1923 — The New York Yankees sign 20-year-old prospect Lou Gehrig to a contract paying him a salary of $2,000 and a bonus of $1,500.
1940 — James “Tex” Carleton of the Brooklyn Dodgers threw a 3-0 no-hitter at Cincinnati.
1944 — In the first game of a doubleheader split, New York first baseman Phil Weintraub drove in 11 runs and player-manager Mel Ott scored six runs as the Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 26-8. Brooklyn won the nightcap 5-4.
1946 — Bob Feller struck out 11 New York Yankees en route to his second of three career no-hitters, a 1-0 victory at Yankee Stadium.
1952 — Ted Williams plays his final game before leaving for military duty in Korea.
1958 —Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox became the 10th major leaguer to reach 1,000 extra-base hits in a 10-4 loss to the Kansas City Athletics at Fenway Park.
1961 — Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hit four home runs and drove in eight runs in a 14-4 victory over the Braves in Milwaukee. Hank Aaron hit two homers for the Braves.
1967 — Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles combined on a no-hitter in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader.
1969 — Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds struck out 13 en route to a 10-0 no-hitter over the Houston Astros, the third of his career.
1986 — The Seattle Mariners strike out 16 more times in a 9 – 4 loss to the Boston Red Sox, to set a major league record of 36 strikeouts in two consecutive games.
1988 — New York and Cincinnati hooked up in a wild game at Riverfront Stadium, with the Mets winning 6-5 on a delayed call by first base umpire Dave Pallone. The call resulted in a $10,000 fine and 30-day suspension of Reds manager Pete Rose when Pallone accidentally poked Rose in the cheek and Rose shoved Pallone twice.
1994 — Toronto’s Joe Carter finished April with 31 RBIs to set a major league record for the month. Colorado’s Andres Galarraga finished with 30 to set a National League record.
1996 — Jeff King of the Pittsburgh Pirates becomes the third major leaguer to hit two home runs in one inning twice in his career.
2000 — Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks defeats the Chicago Cubs, 6-0, as he becomes only the third pitcher in major league history to win six games in April.
2002 — Al Leiter cruised through seven three-hit innings in the New York Mets’ 10-1 rout of Arizona to become the first pitcher to beat all 30 teams in the majors.
2005 — Major league players are asked by Commissioner Bud Selig to agree to a 50-game suspension for the first offense, a 100-game suspension for the second offense and a lifelong ban after the third offense for the use of steroids.
2008 — Julio Franco announces his retirement as a player at age 49.
2012 — Ryan Braun hit three homers and a two-run triple in Milwaukee’s 8-3 win over San Diego. No player had hit three homers and a triple in a game since Fred Lynn in 1975.
2017 — Anthony Rendon had 10 RBIs, three home runs and six hits, powering the Washington Nationals past the New York Mets 23-5. Rendon went a career-best 6 for 6 and scored five times.
2019 — CC Sabathia becomes the 17th pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts.
2020 — The latest event to be cancelled due to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic is the annual Little League World Series.
2022 — Clayton Kershaw becomes the Dodgers all-time franchise leader for strikeouts when he fans Spencer Torkelson of the Tigers in the 4th inning. With 2,697 strikeouts, he moves past Hall of Famer Don Sutton.
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